Sunday 22 April 2012

I'm on another blog nowf



Hi everyone! My bad for not putting this post up sooner. A while back I was thinking of merging all my thoughts on this blog with my review blog. I've since merged them, so please do head over to Nayu's Reading Corner to find out what's going on. There's all the usual writing news, anime news, and other randomness. A huge thank you for reading this blog - having just the one will make things a little easier. Plus I've become more confident at sharing my craziness with the world.

Thursday 15 March 2012

Finding that happy balance

 
 
(Picture from here)

This weekend was a major revelation for me. The clue is in the title. I really did figure out what writing meant. 

I had a few things going on in life that I didn't understand, and I couldn't solve them by myself. They are things which will take time to solve, and aren't directly related to me (yet involve me. Yes I know it sounds complex - that's life for you). I wasn't feeling amazing, but I thought I'd try and write. 

An hour and a bit later I was riding on the 'I've finished a chapter' endorphins. It was about then I had the epiphany. Writing makes me feel better. 

Now that is a major discovery for me, especially at the moment when the ketamine infusion has worn off (boooo!). I deployed the tactic on Monday and Tuesday after work, and it worked stupendously. Old rule of only writing at certain times on certain days is out. I can write whenever I like, so long as I have the energy. Editing will be at set times on set days, because it requires a fair amount of energy which I have to regulate. 

Alongside that, Tuesday I came home and thought of things for others which are on my agenda. But then I thought no. I could have done things for others, but the whole concept of me managing my time better is about placing me first. So I wrote one and a bit chapters. It felt amazing! By exploring the problems for my characters I felt better equipped with dealing with the lovely life curve balls I've got bouncing about.

Acting on the result of this epiphany meant I finished my fairy wip yesterday. I'm going to continue with my anime inspired wip this weekend. Today I've used a lot of brain energy at work (proofreading, which I do occasionally as part of my job), so no writing as brain is tired.

But writing productivity is up with very little disruption to my beta reading & book reviewing. I think I've found a happy balance. 

Sunday 11 March 2012

All fun at the carwash

(An appropriate picture, which comes from here)
This weekend has been a fun one, filled with reading and writing. A lot of reading, and I'm slowly increasing the amount of writing I do (although this is always relative to how I feel. I did feel better for writing, so will try to do a little even if I'm not feeling amazing).

Today after writing a chapter for my fairy wip, I headed out to pick up my friend so we could go get some groceries, get my car washed and have our usual Chinese buffet meal. All was good. We are old hands at the car wash. It's not like the first time we went in together and were convinced we were going to die. I'm not joking. Car washes, if you've never been in one, is a scary experience. The world goes white and wet. In today's case, that was very literal. 

So I'd lined up the car, put it in neutral, and was waiting for it to move forward. It started doing its thing, with the water and the foam. My friend suddenly says 'it's coming in the window!' I turn around, and sure enough there is indeed water & foam coming in the back window. 

I refused to look at it until we were out. My friend made me laugh as she said variations of 'It's still coming in the window/Foam is everywhere'. I'd been going to buy some kitchen towel anyway, so I bought extra just in case it was really bad. It wasn't, and with the sun it soon dried up. Although I don't use the windows int he back (or ever really carry passengers), sometimes as I put shopping in I think the back window handle gets knocked a little. 

I'm relaxing now, and laughing at this morning's incident. I followed it up with a water related incident as I helped with Round One of the dishes with my family. One family member said something, I was replying, and strumbled over my cat's water bowl, which is on the mat beside the food bowl. There was water everywhere. I'm hoping I can make it to bed without more water incidents. My life is never boring!

Friday 9 March 2012

Key thief vs Ditzy writer

 (if only I Lockette from Winx Club & Pop Pixie to help find my keys - she is the Pixie of keys/finding where to go) 

My friends I see reguarly and my long suffering family frequently have to put up with me losing things. Part of it is my memory is rather poor, more so when I'm tired or having a rough day. I'll put something down, forget not only where I put it down but often what I put down. 

(photo from here)
This has led to several occasions where I top up my birds' water in the sink, then walk off without putting it back in the cage. Family step in and save my birds for me. 


(photo from here)
Or I leave my phone somewhere, unhelpfully on silent. It's alright if it's on vibrate. Once I lost it at work and was rather distraught, thankfully found it in the car. Now I look in the car first. 

This morning, feeling a little worse for wear for staying up late to finish a book (I'm so not doing that on a work night again, but the book was worth it) I had 30 minutes at the most to be out the house. All was fine until I went to get my keys. I couldn't find them. I wasn't too panicked as I put them in variious places. But 20 minutes later, after throwing everything off my bed, then back on it, looking all around the house downstairs, I knew I had to go. Thankfully I keep my spare car key to hand, and used a spare house key. 

I was so annoyed with myself for a few minutes, but as I drove to work that feeling diminished. I do this all the time. I was starting to find it funny, especially with the thought of the state of my room (it took a while to set it right). It then dawned on me there was one pocket in my bag which I hadn't looked in. I arrived at work before a Time Management course with time to spare, so I opened up the pocket, dug around, and low and behold I found my keys. 

I laughed a lot, and then phoned home while I made my way to the room where the course was found. Family were pleased I'd found it. A friend texted me saying 'you and your keys!' when I told her (hers was the case where I was super upset after chinese because I couldn't find my kyes and really thought I'd have to phone my parents to come out with the spare set, then as I tipped the bag upside down in a fit of rage out tinkled the keys. Now my friend watches where I put my keys, so at least someone knows where they are. 
A cleaner commented I was looking happy, so I explained what had happened to her. She laughed too :) 

It's part of who I am, which reduces the stress somewhat. Although there always is a 'what if I have really lost them this time' feeling of dread. 

Do you know where your keys and phone are right now? 

Thursday 8 March 2012

Because I buy petrol...


...I had to buy this. Well, two of these. My excuse? None. Absolutely none. I got it because as an adult (although there is much debate in that department with my ditzyness), if I want chocolate, I can buy it. So I did.

Wednesday 7 March 2012

Bit of this, bit of that



I could go all deep and meaningful and say that life is a bit of this, and a bit of that, which it is. It's not just a bit though - there#s an endless amount of this & that's. 

This week I've been doing...

 ...a bit of reading - my current read is up here (points to the right of the blog), and all reviews can of course be found on my review blog, Nayu's Reading Corner (I'm not above self promotion).(bookworm picture from here)

...a bit of writing - my current fairy wip is drawing to the first draft close. In it are lots of wings and breaking the rules mostly for a good reason. (anime girl with laptop photo here)

...a bit of net surfing - all necessary for research. So what if my research involves Star Trek? I know at least 1 other blogger who would be delighted to here that. (Enterprise picture here)


...a bit of anime - you all know how much of a fan I am - this includes Winx! Cardcaptor Sakura is the anime I'm watching, and Winx is the French anime I'm watching. (Cardcaptor picture from here, Winx = who knows, it's on my laptop but not my picture)

(cute watch!)
How's the rest of the week looking? Learning about Time Management at work on Friday - it's an inhouse course which I'm hoping to pick up some extra tips. The highlight of tomorrow is as yet unknown. Ditto Saturday, but on Sunday I'm having lunch with a friend at our usual Chinese buffet. 



I hope your week has had some fun parts in between any not so fun parts.

Saturday 3 March 2012

Pass me a tissue


Or a whole load of them. I can safely say this isn't a cold - it's allergies. A scented candle has been lit all afternoon. There have been two lit, so I'm not entirely sure which is the culprit. I think it's the one labelled 'ho ho ho' (no guess as to what time of year that arrived). Either way, streaming sore eyes = my night so far. I'm hoping it calms down. I'm going to get some eye drops tomorrow - have taken the anti-histmine tablet & nose spray. Thankfully I'm going near a Boots pharmacy.

The rest of the day has mostly  been tissue free. I did my new Saturday schedule of tweeting links to reviews, sending links to publicists and scheduling reviews for this week in a reasonable time. It was fun doing it. It was even more fun coming home and reading. Read too very good books this afternoon, and hoping to squeeze another in tonight.

Tomorrow I'm heading off to meet some friends, which will be a fun few hours. Followed by lots of reading until Tuesday :) I can live with that - I'm getting to grips with chilling.